        |
|
The sixth annual conference of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) convened in June 1995, in the Athabascan community of Chickaloon Village, in the Matanuska Valley, northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The majority of the conference topics focused on the indigenous issues of Alaska and northwestern Canada. Within this region, land and resource questions of primary importance to indigenous peoples include the clean-up of oil spills, the future of Pacific fisheries, the impact of tourism, and the importance of new "star wars" weaponry components that are now being constructed in the region. This article reviews the testimony presented at the IEN conference.
Indigenous peoples of northwestern Canada focused on the fact that they have never signed treaties to cede their lands, nor have they sold their lands, nor lost them in battle. Canadian and British officials have generally interpreted this to mean that native peoples face the same legal situation as all other Canadians and should therefore assert their jurisdictional claims in Canadian courts. However, as Loretta and Harold Pascal of the Lil'wat Nation related, native peoples are asserting that they retain the jurisdictional rights of nationhood, and therefore they have refused to file land claims in Canadian forums and have repeatedly blocked roads that cross their lands. In 1990, the Lil'Wat started blockading roads in British Columbia.
During and after the IEN Conference, the Lil'Wat example was emulated by the Tsimshian, Tsilhqot'in, Nanoose, Adams Lake, Shuswap, Neskainlith, Penticton and Nicola nations, all of whom blocked roads in various parts of British Columbia. The blockades were in protest of various issues that affect Indian nations and the resources on their lands. The issues include: clearcutting of forests, disruption of burial sites, proposed ski resorts, control of fisheries, storage of hazardous materials, and military exercises.1
The blockades, together with the recent negotiation of agreements that guarantee Indian autonomy in large areas of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, have contributed to a media backlash against indigenous peoples in western and northwestern Canada. The regional economy depends heavily upon the timber and minerals that are extracted from lands that indigenous peoples consider their own. The stakes are huge; the entirety of British Columbia's 366,000 square miles is claimed by Indians. The mainstream media attempted to repudiate Indians for having the audacity to claim what is theirs by law. In June, in what was ostensibly a review of a new book entitled Our Home or Native Land?, one publication took the opportunity to rail against "federal handouts" to Indians, "the unwillingness of government to stand up to native militancy," and indigenous peoples' assertion of "non-existent rights."2
Fourth World Bulletin • Spring/Summer 1996
Copyright © 1996 by the Fourth World Center
Created by Aigis Communications, Ltd